To provide training that reflects current industry practice and valid assessment, your RTO’s trainers and assessors must maintain the currency of their skills and knowledge in their industry area and in vocational education and training. It is also acceptable for an appropriately qualified trainer and assessor to work with an industry expert to conduct assessment together. Your RTO must ensure it has trainers and assessors who are vocationally competent to deliver all units you intend on offering.

As part of the Standards, an RTO’s training and assessment may only be delivered by trainers and assessors who have:

• the vocational competencies at least to the level being delivered and assessed
• current industry skills directly relevant to the training and assessment being provided, and
• current knowledge and skills in vocational training and learning that informs their training and assessment.

If a trainer and assessor holds the qualification they are delivering and has recent extensive industry experience, this may be sufficient to demonstrate they hold both vocational competencies and current industry skills.

In some cases, people may have significant industry experience but not hold any formal qualifications—in such cases, you would need to analyse the skills and knowledge they deliver and compare this to their industry skills and knowledge. Consider all units of competency (including electives) in this analysis to ensure that you are meeting the requirements for trainers and assessors specified in the training package or accredited course.

To confirm trainers and assessors have current industry skills, and all training and assessment is delivered by people who are themselves competent practitioners, RTOs should ideally ensure that trainers and assessors are regularly exposed to industry workplaces and participate in workplace tasks. Training and assessment should only be provided by those who have current industry skills and knowledge and is best provided by those who can undertake all of the tasks defined in the elements of units of competency and modules to industry standards. 

RTOs must retain evidence that all trainers and assessors have undertaken relevant professional development in VET. The Standards do not prescribe what format this evidence takes, but you may choose to include registers of development activities undertaken.

In addition, training and assessment may only be delivered by persons who have:

• TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, or its successor*, or
• a diploma or higher level qualification in adult education.

To see how trainers and assessors demonstrate vocational competencies refer to the ASQA Fact Sheet